As light and frivolous as a wispy summer cloud meandering across a baby blue sky, 1956’s The Girl Can’t Help It, written and directed by Frank Tashlin, though perhaps at first glance not as influential (or known) as its very similar cousin from the previous year, The Seven Year Itch, is an entertaining musical comedy that had a huge impact on pop culture. . . though intriguingly not on the movie industry (but more on that later).
Flipping the script slightly from the Billy Wilder classic, Tom Ewell plays a similarly twitchy man, an alcoholic press agent, Tom Miller, who ironically thinks himself an adonis despite his rather frail, nervous demeanor around women. Instead of being slightly bored in a staid marriage, he has instead lost his chance at telling his former singing sensation client Julie London (as herself) that he was falling for her – she has now moved on to bigger and better things.
With a name that matters in the agent industry, it does not take long for slot mobster ‘Fats’ Murdock (Edmond O’Brien) to track him down. Wanting his buxom girlfriend, Jerri Jordan (Jayne Mansfield – her breakthrough role. . . and very much fitting the part of the Marilyn Monroe character in Itch), to make it big in the singing industry, he forcefully hooks the success-bringing man. . . for he is known for never making advances on even the most stunning of clients. Intriguingly, you could argue that ‘Fats’ wants his girlfriend to be famous because subconsciously he wants to be as well. . . a closeted song writer, he came up with a number of tunes while he spent time behind bars earlier in his life.
A wily, cunning networker, Miller promptly brings Jerri along with him to all of the hip and happening nightclubs. . . having her strut her stuff to the washroom whenever the clubs’ owners or managers are in the perfect place, she immediately catches the eye of all the men. . . desperate to sign the new sensation Miller is pedaling (the only problem that no one knows, she has no talent). Instead, Jerri, so sweet and innocent despite her beau and misleading looks, is more interested in spending time with her agent than becoming a star – as she is vocal in wanting to get married and start a family (a perfect example of the baby boom era).
The striking one sheet poster for The Girl Can’t Help It featuring a strutting Mansfield, a gawking and stunned Ewell, as well as some of the rock stars in the background
To return to the influential aspect of this film, the nightclub subplot finds different bands performing on stage as they make the rounds. An unbelievable snapshot of the early rock `n roll scene, you’ll see icons like Little Richard, Nino Temple, Eddie Fontaine, Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran, Fats Domino, and The Platters (and this is just a solid sampling). Impressive on its own, the film reached a sixteen year old in Liverpool, England, a passionate music lover named John Lennon. The first time he was actually able to see the rock gods he so worshiped, it spurred him on to continue his passion. Not too long later (the same summer, in fact), Lennon met Paul McCartney, a fifteen year old who impressed the older teen by showing off his carbon copy rendition of “Twenty Flight Rock” seen performed by Eddie Cochran in the picture. The pair later snuck into the film together – underage, they wore fake mustaches to watch it again. In fact, the movie meant so much to the pair that they stopped the recording of their now oh-so-famous “Birthday” song to return to McCartney’s home to watch the film’s British tv premiere together. Furthering the film’s lore, it was a monumental influence on Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck (who would both have huge success with The Yardbirds before spinning off into Led Zeppelin and a hit solo career respectively), the latter calling it, “The Best Rock & Roll Movie Ever Filmed!”.
Of course, as these things do, Miller and Jerri start to fall for each other. . . the sixth sense of the mobster warning him that he’d better investigate. Will the pair be able to keep their feelings secret from the deadly man? Can Miller somehow make Jerri a star. . . despite the fact she seemingly doesn’t have any talent? Could we call Miller a one armed bandit if he steals Jerri from the slot king?
Lighthearted fun fused with early rock greatness and the visual beauty of stunning colours, impressive costume design, and intoxicating sets, The Girl Can’t Help It lets the camera linger, its cuts on average happening a lot slower than is generally expected in a film (in this one about every ten seconds or so). With deft comedic touch (in fact, Mansfield won a Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer – Female), an enjoyably simple storyline, and a few nice twists to close everything out, a whopping seventeen musical numbers pop out throughout the piece – a magnificent relic capturing the burgeoning early days of rock `n roll. So, make this one a hit again by ‘rocking around the rockpile’ with this fun story – it’s still a star all these years later.